And it's finished!

Managed to write chapters 7-10 today so that's 'Sammy the spider' finished a day ahead of what I was thinking so I can have a long bath tomorrow and spend time with Steve's family again as well as going over on Sunday to celebrate the New Year.

Going to write 'Don't bother' for JanNoWriMo starting Monday so that I can enjoy the New Year with the in-laws instead of worrying how much writing time I am missing!

Up to chapter 7 now

Going to write chapters 7 and 8 today, go to the in-laws tomorrow, for Marie's birthday, write chapters 9 and 10 on Saturday, ready to start JanNoWriMo on Sunday!  lol

It's things like this that I'm grateful for my brain damage because I can never remember what I wrote the previous night and have to read the previous chapter to get ready to write again every morning!  lol

I was whacked around the head by my muse this morning

We were waiting at the end of the road for my FIL to pick us up so that we could spend Christmas Day with the in-laws and I was smacked around the head by my muse to write a story about Dave the dragon.

I've just done that... it's far from my best work, but it's not too bad considering I didn't write it as soon as I was struck by inspiration like I usually do with PB's!

Another two chapters written this morning

I've written 3,000 words in about 20 hours, take off 10 of those hours for me being asleep so I've written 3,000 words in about 10 hours.

Going to have me lunch, then a bath and try and write another couple of chapters this afternoon which means, taking off tomorrow all day, I'll have my first ever early chapter book done and dusted by the time I go to bed on Wednesday.

That means, the only books I don't write are board books which is OK by me 'cos I'm not an author-illustrator, I'm just an author and don't know how to write board books!

Review of "The Moon Laughed at Me" by Katie Woolhouse

I know Katie from SCBWI and couldn't wait to get my hands on her book when I found out it was published and ready to be bought!

This is a cute little picture book about the main character, Izzy, going to the park and playing with her friends.

The first couple of pages are confusing for me though... at first I thought Izzy was a little girl, then a cat then back to a little girl again and there are a few inconsistencies with SpaG that kinda distracted me from the story... sorry, Katie!

If you've got a young child who seems to have never-ending energy then get this book 'cos that describes Izzy (the MC) to a tee!  They even go back to the park in the dark because Izzy can't sleep and wants to go and play with her friends again!

It ends up as Izzy going back home and falling asleep though.

Nite nite Izzy!

That's the first chapter written, so...

Just written the first chapter of 'Don't bother' so that's it now until January... just gotta hope that JanNoWriMo goes as much to plan as NaNo this year.  I'm going to try to write 2,200 words a day starting in January so that, in theory, I finish it on 25th January.

If I finish before that, then that's great, but writing 2,200 words a day will mean that I finish on the 25th with 46 chapters and 50,000 words written in a month again.

Now I'm just going to enjoy the rest of December  👍

Going to start writing 'Don't bother!' today

I'm taking part in JanNoWriMo but some people have started already so that it's a 6 week thing instead of a month-long one like NaNo every November.

It's the first couple of chapters I struggle with so I'm going to write those today and have 1st January off instead, then keep writing throughout January... just need to get into Lisa's head today and 2nd January!  lol

Just had another MS rejected, so...

Instead of getting upset about it, I put the details in my spreadsheet and sent off another MS to another agency.

I know that they are rejecting the MS, not me, but each rejection used to really upset me.

Since coming up with the idea of querying the next agent on my spreadsheet straight away, I haven't shed a single tear.

It hurts, but I'm doing my best not to let it get to me any more and by querying another agent straight away means that I'm making use of my brain damage too!

Toni's Flibble Wibble was rejected this afternoon, so...

I've sent Speckles Diary to the next agent on my spreadsheet.  The site says to give her 4 weeks to get back to me so I'll give her until the end of January 2017 to get back to me then move on to the next one!  I know that's 6 weeks, but I'm factoring in the festive season too!

In fact...

How many steps are there usually in a spiral staircase please?

For example, house stairs are usually somewhere between 10 and 15 steps, offices are about 20 steps between floors and shops stairs are between 0 and 10... is there a standard for a spiral staircase please?

Ideas for early chapter books please?

Fancy trying my hand at writing an early chapter book, but I'm totally out of ideas!

I stole the idea of a spiral staircase from D on SCBWI, but don't know what else to include in it now!

I had loads of ideas spinning around my head when I first read those two words, but the brain damage has totally made me loose them all now  :-(  Should have written them down before I got the permission to use it!

Just nudged another couple of agents

I queried a couple of agents back at the end of June this year, but haven't heard anything back from either of them, so SCBWI recommended that I sent them an email to see what's going on.

I got an automated email reply from one of them giving another email address to send it to because she's on honeymoon atm.

Third person correctly hopefully!

Keep your fingers and toes crossed for me!  :-)

Going to get Danielle a SCBWI membership in the New Year

Going to get her membership to SCBWI as she seems to approve of being there, so I'll make it a joint birthday and Yule gift starting next year  :-)

Wrote "Five golden keys" today and...

I'm going to research writing early chapter books tomorrow then write my first early chapter book next week.  It prolly won't be any good but it'll get me writing a new to me kinda book!

Apparently they are between 1,000 and 1,500 words per chapter and there are 5-10 chapters per book.

Wish me luck!

I'm thinking, if I'm feeling particularly creative, I can write 3 or 4 PBs a day,
2 early readers a day, 2 easy readers a day, 1 early chapter book a week, 1 MG novel a fortnight or 1 YA novel a month.

The only type I don't fancy writing atm is board books but other than that, I'll give most things a try!

Wrote "You're just jealous" yesterday

Wrote the easy reader "You're just jealous" yesterday.

Writing an early reader called "Five golden keys" today thanks to a prompt on SCBWI last night.

Will prolly write another one a day until the end of November then start doing my Yule shopping ready to start writing again in 2017!

Cogheart by Peter Bunzl

Just finished listening to Cogheart and it was a great book that I reckon is for either older MG or younger YA, purely because of the choice of some of the words.

If you've got a tween or young teen that you want to get more into reading, get them this audiobook.

That's the synopsis written

Wrote the synopsis for my NaNo novel then had me tea, gonna ask Steve to write a programme that writes a synopsis for you and you just fill in the details of your novel to put on my Stories For Children site when I've worked out the details that every synopsis has then work out how to put the text boxes in it.

Writing a synopsis

Don't suppose anyone knows of a programme that I can use to write a synopsis for my NaNo novel do they?  I would prefer free but I'm willing to pay if I have to.

In theory I can write it tonight, I just don't want to get into the MC's head again otherwise I'll have to put off writing Don't bother until the middle of next week again which I really don't want to do if I can possibly help it.

I'm most of the way out of my MCs head now, so...

Things are looking good for starting "Don't bother" on Monday.

All I remember is the MC's first name (David) his sister's name (Anna) and his tutors name (Mrs Felps) but everything else has gone already and I only finished it 3 days ago... that's how bad my memory is!  lol

It's things like this that make me grateful for the brain damage!  lol

Going to start writing "Don't bother" next week

I'm already out of David's head but don't want to confuse "Don't bother" with my NaNo novel, "That's magic".

Wish me luck and creativity!

Just had my publisher on the phone

Just had AH on the phone about my published book.  They want to re-design the cover and add parts of the reviews I've had from it.

Apparently that's free.

I wonder why I don't believe them!

In only 15 days, I've finished it!

Started writing at about 8am on 1st November.

Finished my NaNo novel at 2pm on 15th November.

I even like the palendromic number of words I finished on - 50,005!

Going to celebrate by shutting down until tomorrow and having a glittery J2O!

Tomorrow I'll have a day off from writing and have me hair cut then come home and just watch the telly.

Thursday I'll plan out my next novel!  lol

Just over 47k written so far, which means...

Written 47,007 words so far, which means I'm on track to write the 50,000th word after only 15 days.

I thought I was doing well to finish it after 25 days, but a day over 2 weeks is just fantastic... WTG me!  lol

Not having our hair cut after all today, so...

We've just been to wait for Steve's dad to take us to have our hairs cut.

His car broke down so we're not having our hair cut today after all, but that also means I can write more of my NaNo novel today instead!  Yay!

4,000 written today

Just written my 4,000th word of the day and I reckon I'll get one more chapter in then I'll take me pills and head to bed.

I was aiming for 2k words today but I've already doubled that, so I'm on track for finishing on Thursday instead of Friday now!

Edit - scratch that.  I'm happy with 4k so I'm going to shut down and watch a bit of telly then go straight to bed after that.

3,432 words written already today!

Considering I was only going to write 2k words today and didn't start until almost 9am, I think I've done pretty well so far!

As long as I write 568 more words before bed time, I'll have written almost as much as I wrote yesterday and I'll only have 6 more chapters left to write before I finish it in just over 2 weeks!

80% done now

Written 5 chapters in 5k words today. The most I've ever written for anything in 1 day.

Exactly 40k words written since about 8am on 1st November and it's now 5pm on 12th so that's pretty good going, considering I had a few days of only managing to write 2k a day so managing more than double that in one day is pretty impressive I reckon!

Going to have the celebratory J2O I promised myself this morning, then I'm taking me pills and catching up on emails and forums ready for another write-athon tomorrow.  Prolly not as write-athonish as today but I've only got another 10k to write, so I'm aiming to write 2k a day for 5 days starting tomorrow, having Monday off because I'm getting my hair cut and the shopping is coming and I'll write the 50,000th word on Friday.

76% already written

Not bad going for 12 days out of the challenges 30 days and as long as I write 2k words a day starting tomorrow, I'll easily finish by Friday!

Yay me!

It's only lunchtime, but I've already written 3,001 words today!

Just under 2k left to write and I'll have written 5k today, the most I've ever written in a single day.

It's 1.30pm so I reckon I'll easily do it!

D'oh!

I thought I had 2k left to write to make it to 50k but it's actually 12k to finish the NaNo challenge.  It's 2k before I can say I'm on the home stretch and celebrate every 5k I write but 2k only takes me to 40k which is the first celebration mark, not the end of the NaNo challenge.

D'oh!

If I write the 2k today I'll be at 40K and only need to write 2k a day next week then it'll be finished!  lol

Already written 1,001 words today

Woke up at 6.30am, walked the pup and got straight on with me NaNo novel.  I've written more in the last three and a half hours than I usually do all morning!

35,003 now

I've got 3 bottles of J2O to have, so I'm thinking I'll have one to celebrate 40k, 45k, then 50k.

Only got 15k left to write so I'm gonna try and write at least 3k a day starting tomorrow, instead of the 2k I managed today.

Going to take me pills and have a very early night now and start again tomorrow morning after walking the pup first thing.

Wish me luck!

33,009 now

Just written my 3,009th word in my NaNo novel and it's going pretty well, considering I'd barely written 500 words before I had me lunch, I reckon that's pretty good going!

60% done and dusted

Just put the 30,000th word of my NaNo novel down, so I'm now, officially 60% done and dusted!  Yaaaaay!

Only wrote 2k yesterday :-(

Not a good day, yesterday, but if I can write 5k today I'll be back on track... wish me luck!

Only 3k written today, but...

I'm now officially half way through the NaNo challenge after only 7 days!

Yay me!

Written 3,999 words today

I'm at exactly 22k words now, which is pretty impressive considering I only started writing it six days ago!

Tomorrow will be exactly one week and I'll be half way through the NaNo word count!

NaNo is now saying I'll be finished on 14th which ain't bag going for a month long challenge!  lol

I've more than doubled the word count of what the NaNo site suggests - the graph shows 10k and I've done 22k as of now!

50k words in exactly two weeks is pretty good going, considering I didn't win my very first NaNo... I was about 2k words short by midnight on the last day but that's because I was struck with writer's block and didn't plan it but I've won every time I've done it since then, thanks to yWriter!

Just over 20k written in 6 days

Just finished writing chapter 20 and my word count is now at 20,014 which means that I'll be half way to finishing the MS tomorrow after only a week, which, in turn, means I'll be finished NaNo by the middle of November.

Might challenge myself to write 75k words next year for NaNo at this rate!  lol

Another 4k written today!

My MS is now at 18,001 words... not bad going in five days!  lol

4k written today

Written another 4,000 words today so I'm going to take me pills and head to bed for a genuinely early night now.

Nite nite orl!

2k written so far today

Already written 2,000 words this morning, so I'm stopping for lunch now and I'll hopefully write another 2k words this afternoon too.

It was tough to get going first thing, but after I had a word with my muse and started writing it just flowed like a river onto the page!

Yay me!

10k words in 3 days!

Not bad going, I reckon!

Going to celebrate with a bottle of J2O now that I'm already a fifth of the way to winning NaNo!

Right on track to hit 10k today

Today is the 3rd day of NaNo and I've already written 8k with 10k being the plan for the end of today.

The NaNo site estimates that if I keep on like this, I'll be finished by the 19th which will be totally awesome and the quickest I've completed NaNo in during the last 6 years!

Yay me!

3k written today

Considering I didn't really start until after lunch, then had computer problems half way through Chapter 7 that forced me to reboot.

Seven thousand words in two days is something to be proud of I reckon!

Just over 4k words written in 8 hours

Today is the start of NaNo and I've already written the first 4k words in almost 8 hours so it was easier than I was expecting.

I'm having my hair cut on 14th November morning so will only be able to write a couple of thousand words when I get home from that and I'm hoping to meet up with C before the end of NaNo so will only be able to write another 2k then but I'm on track to finish before 20th November which will give me 10 days to get out of David's head and back into my own ready for the end of November.

Waiting for my email to back up, then I can turn off the laptop and have a cooked tea hopefully.  I've stopped writing for the day now, so it's just the backing up and checking my email until tomorrow when I'll check my email again and set the last bit of backing up going while I write the next 4k words to make me 2 days ahead of schedule so I can have the hair cutting and meeting up with C totally off from writing.

Just asked my usual word count question on SCBWI

Just before I start writing a new MS, I usually ask how many words to aim for in it.

A little while ago I asked and someone pointed me to this site that had them all written down for me.

Silly me forgot where I saved the URL to so I asked on SCBWI if anyone could point me in the right direction and one of the members there pointed me to wordcount-dracular page which I looked at and I now know that 'Kiss your cares away' (my NaNo novel) will be 50k words long and 1k words per chapter.

That being said, it means that I have to write 2 chapters a day at the very least, but I'm hoping to write 4 chapters as often as I can during November, then I'll have December off and write 'Don't bother' in January 2017 and take it from there!

Maverick rejected my MS this afternoon, so...

Maverick rejected a MS that I sent them back in August, so I've just sent Disability Roolz and 4 PB's to United Agents.  It's another one I can mark off, got another 24 left so it'll keep me going for a while!

Found the novel I thought I'd lost

It's a novella called 'kiss your cares away' - I was getting confuzzled between that one and my post NaNo novel that I've only planned out so far.  I can stop getting flustered about it now!  Yay!

Review of Opal Moonbaby

Just finished listening to an amazing book that I found out about from someone on SCBWI

The author has an awesome imagination and an incredible way with words.  It started off a bit slow and weird but after a couple of chapters I really got into it and wanted to know what would happen next.

There was an emotional chapter close to the end and because it was so well written I thought I was going to let an accidental tear slip out of my eye.

A definite must read/listen to and there are other books by the same author... just got to find out which one comes next!

Don't read if there are small eyes close to you

I'll just be ranting so there will probably be a lot of swearing in this, so if you've got small eyes reading this, close it down until they are out of the room.

I could have sworn I wrote a novel and finished it at the end of September.

I even kept a daily word count on this blog.

Just tried to find it and it's vanished!

It's not on my laptop.

It's not on One Drive.

It's not in the recycle bin and it's not on my external hard drive either!

Means that I'll have to write the whole damn thing again after NaNo!

I've had enough of this happening to me - it's not the first fucking time and it prolly won't be the last but it takes the piss!

Don't suppose any of you have a copy of "Because I said so" that I emailed to you at some point do you?  I know it's a very long shot, but I'm willing to try and get even a small amount of it back right now!

Edit 1 of yesterdays ER done and dusted

Just sent off edit 1 of yesterday's ER to check my accuracy in the MS then I'll start on the editing just before NaNo.

Wish me luck!

Just finished the early reader

Written just gone 2k words this afternoon in the ER so I'm gonna head to bed now and I'm not planning on waking up until gone 9am tomorrow.

Nite nite!

Gonna be writing another Early Reader tomorrow, thanks to...

I'm gonna be writing about Dyslexia tomorrow and I already know the MC's name which is a new one for me!  lol

It's things like that which make the annual membership fee at SCBWI worthwhile for me... I can have a vague idea of the story (Dyslexia) then post it asking for help and within a few hours I've got it all planned out ready for writing!

It's not cheap but it's so worth it for things like this!

Finished Adam's Adventure and renamed it now

Just finished writing the ER after pondering on it for 2 days and I've decided to rename it to "Adam at school" because I couldn't think of a safe adventure he could go on alone!

Pondering on basing my next ER on a child with special needs next... gotta do some basic research first though!

Only written 10% of Adam's Adventure today

Didn't even start writing until 4pm today, so I'm going to have an early night now and aim to finish it off tomorrow.

Wish me luck!

That's my first Early Reader MS written

Exactly 2k words written today and I'm meeting up with a friend tomorrow for my birthday so I'll be able to distance myself from the ER then I'll write another one on Thursday and I'm hoping to write at least one ER every 2 days until the middle of October, have the last couple of weeks of October off from writing and trying to get into a new MC's head ready for NaNo on 1st November!

The power of books

Just finished listening to an Audible book and my mood is a lot better now, thankfully!

I'm going to write my first Early Reader now and make it 2k words instead of the 500 I've been writing up to now!  lol

Renamed my Early Readers to Easy Readers

Just the file names, but I learnt yesterday that there is a difference between the word counts of Easy Readers and Early Readers.  I've been writing Easy Readers up to now but I'm going to write an Early Reader today.

Need to get in a better mood first though, or it'll all come out in my writing instead  :-(

ER for October

If I forget what the Early Reader WIP is about, can someone remind me tomorrow that it's about a new boy joining a primary school half way through the term please?

It's official...

My 2016 NaNoWriMo novel, "That's magic", is on the NaNo site ready for me to make a start on 1 November!

Gonna write an Early Reader instead of a novel for the rest of October in preparation for NaNo and I'll write "Because I said so" after that.

Slush pile challenge

Just emailed my submission to SCBWI's Slushpile challenge... wish me luck!

What's the word count for YYA novels please?

I've got 92k words planned out but I was hoping for about 100k.

Should I forget the other 8k or plan another 4 chapters somewhere?

Review of speech recognition software

Just bought a speech recognition bit of software for £2.89 from the Windows App store and I love it already!

It's called SpeechToText Pro, and with absolutely no training at all, I dictated "Peter Piper picked a pickled pepper.  Blimey!  This is a bit good!" into it and it was all right except the two exclamation marks and it wrote "Has a bit tired" instead of the last bit.  Absolutely no training whatsoever!  Brilliant value for less than £3 and no training at all!

The look is very basic... think MS DOS and you're there!  For under a fiver though, it's a lot better than I was expecting and if you can cope with basic graphics then it's amazing value for money and the best £2.89 I've spent for a very long time!

It's definitely better than any of the more expensive software I've tried and will be using it to write my stories from now on!  With the more expensive software, you're paying for the brand name and the graphics.

Even if you're a millionaire who can afford the expensive software, you still have to spend hours a day training it to your voice.  The programmers of SpeechToText Pro could earn a lot more even raising the price to a tenner and updating the graphics a bit, but they have made a totally awesome programme that's easy to use, very user friendly and amazingly accurate from the very first word you say!

Go on, buy it now and you'll very quickly see what I'm on about!

Has anyone got any ideas please?

I'm after some chapter ideas for my next novel.  It'll be a YYA of about 100k words, but I haven't got a clue other than that!  Has anyone got any ideas pretty please?

And it's finished!

I've written 40k words in 20 days (including my 2 breaks) which ain't bad going.

I've got my NaNo novel planned out, ready for 1st November, so I'm going to reward myself by having the rest of September and all of October off.

Yay!

One more chapter left to write

Just written chapter 19, so I've just got chapter 20 to write tomorrow and it's all finished!

Still haven't decided on making it into another novella and finish writing chapter 20 with 40k words or if I should write another 10k and make it into a novel.

I still can't decide!  lol

It's taken all day, but...

Just written my 36,000th word and I've got 2 more planned chapters to write, but I'm thinking of writing another couple of chapters just to take it to 44k and a mini chapter to finish the novel off and take it up to 45k...

Or should I just stop in 2 days time with what I've planned and make it another novella?

Opinions please!

Haven't written anything today

Spent a while with a friend today, so I'm back to writing 2k words a day tomorrow  :-)

Another 4k words written today, because...

I'm meeting up with a friend tomorrow so wanted to be sure to get it done today so that I didn't get behind tomorrow.

4k words written in 10 hours

Not bad going I reckon after having yesterday as a day off... the first few hundred words of each chapter were tough going, but I got there in the end!  Yay!

That's yesterday's 2k written

Just got another 2k to write and I'm back on track!

Aiming to go back to writing 2k again today

Had the day off yesterday and totally missed meeting up with C because his texts didn't come through until the evening, so I'm back to writing the 2k words a day today and I'll have a break whenever C wants to come over, then write into the evening.

Wish me luck!

Alright and all right

I'm a member of SCBWI in the BI region and there has been a discussion on the FB page about when to use the words 'alright' and when to use 'all right'.

I reckon that if you can put another word between the 'all' and the 'right' then you should use the spaced spelling (eg all the right questions) but if you can't then it's the non-spaced version (I'm alright Jack).

What do you reckon?  When should you use the spaced version and why?  When should you use the single word version and why?

Giving myself the day off today

I'm not going to write anything today.  Gonna wait until Steve's carer has been and gone then have a bath, get dressed, put the washing on and just enjoy a free day!

I'm well over half way through it so I reckon I deserve it!

26k words written now

I've written 26,003 in 13 days... not bad going I reckon!

Another 2k written and I've had me tea, so...

Written just over 2k words today and I've just had me tea, so I'm going to take me pills and catch up on emails and forums for a bit, then head to bed!

2k written again and I'm now going to bed

Just put the final full stop in chapter 9 so I'm going to bed now for an earlyish start again in the morning.

Nite nite!

I'm really achieving those 2k words every day, because...

I spend the time until 11.30am every morning doing totally non-creative things then from 11.30am to 3.30pm I'm a writing machine and get the 2k words written in those for hours!

In theory I could write 4k words a day, but don't want to push myself too hard and take the enjoyment out of it.  Maybe I could write 3k words a day so that I'm thrown straight into the action, mid-chapter every day?

Another 2k words written this afternoon

It's definitely helping to not start writing until lunchtime cos I've written a chapter without stopping yesterday and today and I got straight into writing after reading the previous chapter instead of not being able to start until about 1.30pm before that so I reckon I'll keep turning the laptop on, checking my emails and forums and not start writing until at least 11.30am every morning then I can keep going until about 3.30pm without stopping (other than bathroom breaks) and not a moment of writer's block in sight!

Success!

In 5.5 hours this afternoon I wrote more than I have all day for the last week!

So, I've decided not to even open up Word until at least 11am every day... if I start the laptop before that, it's purely for checking my email and forums and things like that.

Then the closest I'm allowed to writing is reading through the previous chapter at 10.50am ready for the words to flow at 11am.

If that works every day next week I'll be back into my writing mindframe ready for NaNo again!  Yay!

Going to try something new today

Going to try not writing until at least lunchtime to see if that helps me be creative this afternoon and evening.

I've written literally 3 or 4 paragraphs all morning, every morning up to now then written the rest of the chapter after I've had me lunch.

So, I'm thinking, it's got something to do with blood sugar or my brain not waking up until after I've eaten or something like that.

I'll find out today I guess!  lol

Mikey is going to...

fancy someone else in chapter 4... will she like him enough to go out with him though?

What about Hannah?  How will she feel?

Haven't written anything today, so...

I'll definitely have to get back into it tomorrow!

Managed to write 2k words today

After a non-existant start to writing this morning and early afternoon, I've written just over 2,000 and I'm heading to bed now.

Getting started has always been the hardest for me, but now that I've written that first chapter hopefully it'll be plain sailing from now on!

I was wrong, 4 days ago, when I said

I was wrong when I said I'd been rejected by a publisher... at the time I posted it, I thought no reply meant an outright no.

Just seen a post from someone on SCBWI that the no reply wasn't a definite no, it was just that they were snowed under with submissions and they were planning on getting back to everyone who had submitted with a definite answer, but they've extended their response time to 4-6 weeks now so I might still have a publisher after all!

Wish me luck again!  lol

Finishing up the planning of my next YA novel today

Does anyone happen to be any good at thinking up novel titles?

I'm going to finish planning it today but I've got no idea what to call it!

Didn't win the slushpile challenge either

...but I'm going to pick myself up, dust myself off and keep trying... at least the rejections proove that I'm trying and being read even though I haven't been accepted yet - if I wasn't getting any rejections it would mean that I wasn't being read and I wasn't trying to get accepted.

The more I put myself out there, the more I'm being read and the more likely I am to be accepted by someone one day!

Has anyone got...

I'm doing reviews on this blog as well as a word counts but need things to review!

I'm not going to review things of people I know because I can't be unbiased about that and would prolly give a 5 star review because I didn't want to offend them rather than a non-biased 3 star review if you see what I mean?

I'll do creative stuff on this blog and other stuff on my personal blog but I need to know about things that you want to read reviews of!

So, if you've got ideas for things that I can review, just leave me a quick comment about what it is and where I can buy it from.  Please don't start by saying "this is great, you really should review it" or "this is terrible for me, total waste of money" because you're already telling me how to review it before I've even seen it!

So, just leave me a quick comment in reply to this post and I'll get back to you!

Got rejected by a publisher yesterday, so...

I'm back on track with 5 submissions at a time again and I sent an ER to a children's magasine last night instead.  If they take me on then it'll prompt me to write more ERs!  If they don't then that's OK by me too!

Gel pens from Amazon

I got my order of 60 gel pens yesterday and I was concerned by some of the critical reviews but they were under a tenner so as long as most of them worked, I was happy.

I tried them out last night and I loved every single one of them!  The negative reviews obviously didn't understand that ink gets cold and doesn't work, but if you rub them between your hands for a few seconds, the ink flows freely again!

One thing that concerned me was that some of the tops seemed to be stuck in position and wouldn't come off as easily as most of them.

That, if I hadn't been willing to keep trying to get them to work, would have been another reason for a negative review.

Like with the ink though, I just rubbed the pen between my palms for a few seconds et voila.  Again!

It's got a 5 star review from me on Amazon and I'm going to ask what colour to use at any of my own book signings in future too!

If you're an illustrator who prefers ink, then get these pens - I love them!

Wrote an Early Reader (aka ER) this morning

Saw a Facebook post aimed at people who work with children about how you should love and encourage children.

It inspired me to write an ER from a child's perspective and hopefully they read it to will get something out of it to.

It's very much a first draft right now, it's just the title I need help with - do you fancy helping me?

Steve's got back from his assessment, and...

it sounds like, if the government take the assessors comments into account, Steve's got the PIP sorted out!

Apparently they didn't even need to examine him because they could see how much help he needed just by walking in with his frame.

Just waiting for him to get his ESA now then that's him sorted too!

Yay!

Another creative day today!

Just put the final full stop in the second ER today - not bad going I reckon!

Means I can spend tomorrow vegging out in front of the telly to get out of all the characters heads then plan another novel out on Wednesday and start writing it on Thursday in preparation for another month of writing in preparation for NaNo in November.

I can so do this!

Today and tomorrow

Now that I've finished the sci-fi novella, I'm going to spend today and tomorrow writing a couple of early readers.  Almost finished the first draft of the first ER, then I'll spend tomorrow writing the second ER.

I'll give myself Wednesday off to get out of the head's of the main characters then start editing the MSs I've written since my last edit-athon!

Wish me luck!  lol

Finito!

That's the sci-fi novella finished!

Next up:  an early reader

Any ideas for things I could write 550 words about?  What do 5-7 year olds enjoy reading about?

9 down, 2 to go

Just doubled chapters 8 and 9 so I've only got another 2k words to write in 2 chapters then the novella is finished!

Yay!

That's 3 chapters doubled today

Good going even if I do say so myself!

I worked on chapters 5, 6 and 7 today so I'm going to have a shower then treat myself to a J2O and a vegetable tea, then head to bed nice and early.

It's just gone 4pm right now and I've added 3k words today.

I'm going to celebrate now.

Good going by me!

Already doubled the word count in chapter 5 and it's not even lunchtime yet!

Going to attempt to increase the word count in chapter 6, then I'll have a celebratory bath!  lol

That's chapter 4 doubled too

Finished doubling chapter 4 now and just introduced Robota and Bobby has got himself out of detention so I'll work on chapter 5 tomorrow now!

3 down, 8 to go

Just doubled chapter 3 while listening to an audiobook.  A week tomorrow and it'll be finished, but I realised this morning that I'm not intending on sending it out to be published, it's not good enough for that, but I'm just writing it for myself so it doesn't matter how many words it finishes at, it's just my first attempt at sci-fi is all.

That's the second chapter doubled

Just doubled the wordcount for the second of the eleven chapters.  Should I attempt to double the third chapter too today, or leave it be until tomorrow?

Doubled the length of the first chapter so far...

Not bad going, I reckon!  At least an extra 1k a day will take it up to 22k and I'll make it into a short short story instead of a novella otherwise I'll have to take it up to 50k which is more than 4 times longer and I'll never eek 50k words out of my first ever sci-fi MS!

It's purely for my benefit though, I doubt very much I'll send it anywhere for publication... it's just not something I enjoy writing is all!  I much prefer realistic and fantasy!

3rr0r c0d3 is ready for being added to this week

Gonna work on 3RR0R C0D3 this week.

It's currently 11,030 so I'm gonna try and at least double it this week and put in 2,000 per chapter instead of the current 1,000.

 Wish me luck!

Just written an early reader

Not bad going... been writing every day for the last 18 days now!

40k words in 17 days

Just put the final full stop in the MS I started writing on 2nd August so I've written exactly 40k words in 17 days!  Yay!

Going to treat myself to a small bottle of J2O now in celebration of that final full stop in my first draft.

Writing plans today

I've got 2 plans for my writing today

First is to finish of Tales from Camp Cryptid - not bad going to write 40k words in less than a month.

Second is to plan out an ER about Y2 SATs... I'm hoping it'll help rather than petrify the young readers!

That's chapter 19 written

Just got 2k words to write tomorrow and I'll have written 40k in 19 days!  Not bad considering!

I'll have the weekend off then try fleshing out the sci-fi novella next week.  I'm not so worried about that though 'cos it's just for my benefit, I won't send it to agents or anything like that, it's very much for my own experimentation just to see what I thought to reading and writing it for the first time in my life.

Going to treat myself to listening to an audiobook now and might even crack open a J2O to celebrate!

Two chapters to go, so...

I've got chapters 19 and 20 left to write so I can almost guarantee I'll be finished tomorrow now!

I'll give myself the weekend off then try and write a bit more of the sci-fi novella next week... wish me luck!

Three chapters left to write

Wrote another chapter this afternoon so I've now got 6k words left to write and it'll be finished.

40k words in 20 days is pretty good ain't it?

After I've finished my current WIP I'll try re-writing the novella next week to try and double the word count.  I'm not expecting that it'll be published 'cos it's not good enough to sub but I know now that I can't do sci-fi so it's just for my benefit is all.

That's another 2k words written

Only another 4 chapters with 2k words per chapter, so 8k words, left to write and I'm right on track for writing the final word in the novel on Friday.

Not bad eh?

Still a day ahead of the target

Just finished chapter 15 and 30k words in less than 2 weeks.

Only another 5 days at 2k words a day and I'll have finished it!

Yaaay!

Another 4k words written today

I was only intending on writing chapter 13 today but I finished that at just gone 3pm so decided to write chapter 14 as well.

Just finished writing it and I'm really proud of myself... 4k words in about 12 hours, not bad at all!

Chapter 13 written already!

I've just finished writing chapter 13 and I'm about to make a start on chapter 14 so that I can be a day ahead of myself and I'll be able to meet up with Chris and Hannah tomorrow if they want to come over!

I'm now half way through

Just finished chapter 10 and there are 20 chapters in 40k words so I'm back on track to finishing now and looking good for finishing it before the end of August... I can do this!

Up to chapter 10 now

I'm right on track with my writing.  2k words a day and it's looking to be finished on the 20th if I keep on top of things!

Another chapter written so...

I'm going to have me tea then head to bed for an early night for a change.

Started off slowly this morning, but wrote 1,500 after about 2pm and it's just gone 6pm now so that's pretty good going!

That's the 4k written, so...

I'm back on track to write 2k words a day again.

I'm going to head to bed in a bit 'cos I'm cream crackered, but I'm back on track after being 2 days behind a week ago!

4k words to write today...

then I'm back on track!

Wish me luck!

Creative afternoon and evening today!

Had a lazy morning, just watching TV and reading my emails and forums until 2pm and it's now 9.15pm with 2k written.

It definitely is the first and last chapters that are hardest for me to write... I achieved more in 7 hours today than I did in over 12 hours yesterday!

I'm back on track now though so hopefully I'll be able to write as soon as I get back from walking Mitzi tomorrow morning.

Agent Hunter's site: A review

Just had a bit of a play around with the Agent Hunter site and I'd give it 4 stars out of 5.

It lost the last star because you can't search just for one genre or age of target readers like you can in the agents bit.

There are a total of 7 pages of agencies and there are more than 100 agents along with 14 pages of publishers so that's a lot to go through if you can't search for what you want!

It's obviously a new site so hopefully it'll become more user/search friendly soon.

I don't get why there is a £100 difference between the gold and platinum levels of membership though.  I know that the platinum gives you a total review of your submission package, but is it really worth £127 more from such a new site?

I know you may think you need it and it's a worthwhile opportunity, but I wouldn't pay £127 just for that... sorry! 

If the company slashed the platinum price to £50 instead of £145 then I reckon they would get more customers for that!

Also, is the professional editor willing to look over the submission package after you've taken their advice on board?  Maybe they could price the current platinum package at £50 and offer a platinum plus package where the editor will look over the edited package at £25 each time they look over it for you until you're happy with your new package and ready to send it off.

It's a great start, they just need to polish it up a bit more is all.

That's the first chapter written, so...

I'll be able to write more fluidly until the end of the MS... I'm no good at beginnings or ends of novels and never have been!

Going to use this as a reward for...

Just signed up with Agent Hunter and I'm going to use the site to update my spreadsheet as long as I write at least 2k words a day... wish me luck!

Achieved precisely no writing today, other than a PB!

I wrote and submitted for crits a PB this morning but other than that, absolutely no other writing whatsoever!  That means tomorrow will have to be a double day!  !

That's Disability Roolz sent off to...

United Agents open submission day!

Just waiting nervously to find out if anyone wants to take me on and doesn't mind holding my nervous hand!

Starting on 1 August 2016, I'm going to...

I'm going to spend August writing out my next novel in preparation for NaNo in November.

I've got it planned out and ready to be written.  It's going to be a realistic romance for young young adults because they are just starting to think outside the "friends only" box and starting to get desires to hold the hand of their first crush and stuff.

I've written a sci-fi novella but don't think I'll be writing any more sci-fi... it's just not in me to write that and thrillers and ghost stories!

Think I'll stick to fantasy and realistic fiction from now on!

Quick update on this blog

I know, I know... I haven't written anything in here since 2010, but I've left WWAUS now and wanted somewhere to associate with my writing for children site so I've decided to make use of this blog now that I've left WWAUS and I'm in the middle of my writing year!

From now on, I'll use this for reviews of websites and books and ideas for things for me to write and things like that.

I'd love to have you join me on this blog and my personal one!

I write for children from birth to young/new adult but I can't do it without you helping me.  If you have an idea for me I'd love to hear from you in the comments bit and I'll credit you for the idea by using your name as one of the characters in the book you inspire!